Fender for boats and the like



July lO, .1956 A. G. AGRA FENDER F OR BOATS AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 25.1952 FENDER FOR BOATS AND THEy LIKE Arthur G. Agra, Chicago, Ill.

Application September 25, 195,2, Serial No. 311,480

1 Claim. (Cl. 114-219) This invention relates in general to a bumper orfender commonly used as a protection for boats and suspended at the sideof a boat between it and a dock, or other obstruction but may have amore general use wherever applicable.

An important object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedfender which resembles the fender commonly used in having a canvascover, but having an entirely diiferent interior construction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fender of this kindcomposed of sheet material Wound in a spiral and of an outside diameteradapted to be encased in a suitable cover of canvas or other material.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a fender composedof a light-weight resilient material such as sponge rubber which may bewound about an open core in spiral form including portions of asupporting rope between the windings.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fender construction inwhich the cover is removable and open at both ends so that it may beeasily fastened and supported from either or both ends.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a sleeve which isnon-adhesive as a cover for the rope wound in the material of which thefender is composed so that the rope will not adhere thereto and maybereplaced by inserting another rope through the sleeves.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the Specilcation and willbe apparent from the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. l is a side elevation of a boat fender in accordance with theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the fender shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the fender taken on the line 3 3 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of a supporting rope and a sleeve in whichthe rope is enclosed; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a cover for the fender.

The boat fenders now commonly used comprise a canvas bag or cover lledwith cork or some other resilient and usually buoyant material such thatthe fender will float and will have a certain amount of resilience toresist compression of the fender when it engages between the boat and adock, for example, to which the boat is moored. This type of a fendersoon becomes dirty and objectionable when used with passenger orpleasure boats. It is usually supported from one end only, and if thecover becomes damaged, the packing therein, if it consists of groundcork or other material, will escape from the cover and soon make thefender of little value.

The present fender differs from the type now commonly used in providinga cover of canvas or other similar strong fabric or other material whichis stitched or otherwise fastened to form a hollow bag open at both endsand of uniform diameter throughout. Each end is folded over to form ahem 12 and a number of metal grommets 14 are fastened in the hem toprovide means nited States Patent C) Patented July 10', 1956 ice 2 foreasily inserting and fastening cord 16 throughout to draw together andpartially close the ends.

Within the casing is a filler of light resilient and buoyant materialpreferably in the form of sheet sponge 18 of rubber, cellulose or othermaterial which will lloat and does not become water-logged. The sheetsponge is rolled in a spiral to the desired diameter preferably leavingan open central bore 20, and as the sheet material is wound, twoparallel reaches 22 of a supporting rope 24 are included between theturns of the sponge material. This sponge material is usually suppliedin a roll which has an adhesive coating on one face so that when it isassembled as a filler for the fender by rolling a portion of a longlength of sponge material upon itself, the layers tend to adheretogether. They would also tend to adhere to the portions of the rope 24which are included between the layers of the sponge material so that asleeve 26 of ber, paper or other suitable material is applied aroundeach reach of the rope where it passes through the adhesively attachedsponge layers so that the rope itself will pass freely in the sleeve andwill not adhere to the adhesive layers of the sponge.

With this construction, the rope may be renewed from time to time as itbecomes worn without unrolling the sponge material and there is notendency for the rope to adhere to the inside of the sleeve which isnon-adhesive.

The side reach portions 22 of the rope are usually connected by acontinuous portion 28 at one end of the sponge rubber material and aknot 30 connects the portions at the other end.

When the fender is assembled within a casing 10, the cover is closed orpartially closed over the ends by inserting the cord 16 through thegrommets 14 and drawing up and tying the cord over the end of the bumperand over the rope 24 which projects from the center thereof.

If desired, the normally lower end of the fender may have another guiderope 32 attached to the connecting portion 28 of the supporting rope atthat end and this rope 32 may also project from the drawn end of thecover 10.

With this construction, the interior resilient iller of sponge rubber orother material will form a core which is buoyant and does notdeteriorate because of the adherence of the spiral layers to each otherand once wrapped in this form, the cover 10 may be easily applied to orremoved from the sponge material. It is necessary only to remove therope 32 if it has been applied to the fender and to loosen the cord 16at the other end whereupon the cover may be pulled off at the reverseend or bottom of the fender. If the cover becomes dirty or worn, a newcasing or cover of the same kind may be applied thereto and the fenderis thus renewed for the cost of the cover only and also presents a newand pleasing appearance without necessity of renewing the entire fenderwhich is the more costly part. In this way, since the sponge materialdoes not deteriorate, the life and usefulness of the fender is greatlyextended and increased.

This fender may be supported by the rope 24 at one end and thussuspended at the side of a boat and between it and a dock or anotherobstruction to prevent damage to the boat, or if desired, the fender maybe supported by two ropes, one at each end and thus manipulated orapplied in any desired location.

While the fender is particularly designed for use of boats, it may alsobe used as a resilient bumper for other purposes, and since it isbuoyant, it may serve as a life preserver for use in the water.

While l have thus described a preferred construction of the invention insome detail, it should be regarded as an illustration or example ratherthan as a limitation or restriction of the invention, since variouschanges in the construction, combination and arrangement of the partsmay be made Without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

I claim:

In a fender for boats, and the like, the combination with a llercomprising a sheet of buoyant sponge material wound upon itself inspiral form and having an adhesive on one side of the sheet which causesthe material to adhere and maintain the spiral orrn when it is wrappedabout itself, of a supporting rope having a loop of material withparallel reaches disposed between the layers of sponge materialintermediate the center and the outside and projecting at the ends ofthe material, a free-tting sleeve for each reach of the supporting ropeextending around those portions of the rope which are included betweenthe layers of the sponge material to prevent the rope from sticking tothe said material, and

a fabric cylindrical cover tting over the ller and projecting beyond theends thereof, the projecting portions of the cover having grommetstherein and flexible ties inserted through the grommets for gatheringthe ends of the casing to partially close it and permitting thesupporting rope at the ends of the fender to project from the gatheredends of the cover at the center thereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 950,685White Mar. l, 1910 1,877,793 Beynon Sept. 30, 1932 2,197,839 Roberts etal Apr. 23, 1940 2,546,396 Jenkins Mar. 27, 1951 2,547,644 Hogue et alApr. 3, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 413,808 Great Britain July 26, 1934

